He has suggested that the EU join forces with the bloc’s defense industry to speed up and increase munitions production, in an EU-funded strategy. Kamala Harris (USA) asserts that Russia has “without a doubt” committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyenhe stated this Saturday, in an interview with the media in the Munich Security Conferencewho trusts that the joint EU interest in bringing more ammunition to Ukraine it will trump the individual interests of each country when it comes to common European defense procurement programmes.
The bloc is urgently exploring ways for its member countries to come together to buy munitions to help Ukraine, after kyiv has warned of the need for urgent supply, by firing up 10,000 artillery shells a day.
“As always in this atrocious war that Russia unleashed against Ukraine, we see that we can move mountains under pressure, also in this case”, stressed von der Leyen, adding that “these are not normal times, they are extraordinary times. And therefore we should also look at extraordinary measures or procedures.”
In the past, the focus on national interests has often prevented closer defense cooperation between European countries, hampering and slowing down joint procurement programs.
In his address to the conference, von der Leyen has suggested that the EU do what it did during the pandemic to prepare for large-scale production for a vaccine against Covid-19 and join forces with the bloc’s defense industry to speed up and scale up production of much-needed battlefield munitions in Ukraine and replenish stocks in the country.
“Right now we are talking about ammunition standardized [proyectiles de 155 mm] that we would finance at European level or from the member states, that is the scheme behind it,” von der Leyen explained in the interview.
“I don’t think Ukraine is in a position to finance that right now. Therefore, we must finance this,” he concluded.
It is expected that foreign ministers of the EU discuss the idea of joint procurement of 155mm shells, which kyiv urgently needs, at a meeting in Brussels on Monday.
G7 foreign ministers in Munich today. EFE.
US warnings to Russia and China
For her part, the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harrishas assured this Saturday during his appearance at the Munich Conference, that Russia has committed, “formally” and “without a doubt”, crimes against humanity during his invasion of Ukraine.
Harris has singled out Russian forces for carrying out widespread and systematic attacks against the civilian population, committing “horrendous acts of murder, torture, rape and deportation.”
For this reason, Washington will continue to support the judicial processes that have been opened in Ukraine, as well as the international investigations in this regard so that the direct perpetrators and their superiors “are accountable before justice.”
Harris has stressed that along with this “moral interest”, the West also has a “strategic interest” in defending the international order based on rules that emerged after World War II and which establishes that borders should not be altered by force.
“There is no nation that is safe in a world in which one country can violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of another, where crimes against humanity go unpunished, where a country with imperialist ambitions can do whatever it wants,” he said. .
If Moscow gets its way, other countries will be encouraged, according to Harris, to continue its “violent example”, even resorting to “brute force”.
If Moscow gets its way, other countries will be encouraged to continue with its “violent example”, the vice president has affirmed, resorting to coercion, misinformation and even “brute force”.
In this sense, Harris has underlined his “discomfort” at the fact that China has “deepened” its relationship with Russia since the war began and has argued that if Beijing provides Moscow with military support it will only “reward aggression” and further undermine the rules-based international order.
In light of all this, Washington will continue to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes”, indicated the vice president, who prophesied that in the conflict “there will be more dark days” and the “daily agony of war will continue”.
Kamala Harris, today, in Munich. EFE.
Source: Eitb
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